Eureka!

Note: this will not work if you have XGL/Compiz installed, as NVidia does not support XGL with OpenGL at this time!

This tutorial will expect the following:

• A current subscription to Cedega (http://www.transgaming.com).
• An AMD Athlon 64 processor (or any other 64-bit AMD processor, the point being we are installing on 64-bit and not 32-bit).
• A (hopefully high-speed) internet connection.

1. Download the package cedega_5.1_i386.deb (or newer) package from the Transgaming website (link above) to your desktop.
2. Open a Terminal window (again, this should be familiar): Applications > Accessories > Terminal.
3. Type:

   sudo dpkg -i --force-all ~/Desktop/cedega_5.1_i386.deb

   (or newer package name).

4. This should run successfully in just a few seconds.
5. Once complete, open: Applications > Games > Transgaming Cedega.
6. Click Accept.
7. Click Forward.
8. Enter your Transgaming username and password, then click Forward.
9. The screen will prompt you for what updates you want to download, check them all and click OK.
10. Click Accept.
11. At this point I noticed that the window decorations dissapeared, however, this should be no reason to worry.
12. Click Accept again.
13. Click OK when it says the installation is complete.
14. Click OK.
15. Review your system specs, then click Forward.
16. Click Run Selected Test. Note that in my setup this fails at two points: OpenGL Direct Rendering and ALSA sound. The OpenGL failure is due to the last tutorial (installing XGL and Compiz: XGL does not work in conjunction with XGL, status of inclusion into their driver is unknown at this point). The ALSA sound failure is something that I have been unable to fix, however, the games I have run so far work on OSS as well, so no trouble. I am still trying to get ALSA to work though.
17. Click Finish.
18. Log out, restart GDM and log back in. Cedega is now installed (and ready to go if you didn’t have any failures).

Installing a Windows game now is as easy as inserting the CD, and installing it through the Cedega interface. You will see the familiar Windows installation screens, etc.

I am researching the above-mentioned errors and will post the work-around as soon as possible.

If you wish to play 3D games, do not install XGL/Compiz at this time, as NVidia does not support XGL yet in their drivers!

This guide will step you through the process of installing XGL and Compiz to add an increadible amount of gadgetry and usefullness to your desktop environment. Trust me, you wont be sorry!

1. Update your Linux install to the very latest updates: click on the System, choose Administration, then click Update Manager.
2. Click the Check button to verify that everything is up-to-date. If anything is listed, go ahead and install it.
3. Once this is complete (it may require a restart; if so you will be prompted) close the update window.
4. Make sure you have the latest NVidia drivers installed (see Part 2, the previous guide).
5. Now you will need to add the Universe repositories: open Synaptic (Applications > Add/Remove…), then click the Advanced button (you will be prompted to enter your password), then click Settings > Repositories. You should now see a list of repositories with some checked and some not. Scroll down about midway until you see two unchecked ones marked as Universe; one binary and one source. Check these two then click Close.
6. Click the Reload button.
7. Search for and mark the following packages for installation: libgl1-mesa (probably already installed), libglitz1, libglitz-glx1. Click the Apply button to finalize.
8. Search for and mark compiz-gnome for installation (it will automatically add its needed dependancies). Again, click Apply.
9. Open a Terminal window (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and enter the following:

   sudo ln -sf /usr/bin/Xgl /etc/X11/X

   .

10. Close all your applications, log out, and hit -- to restart your GDM (graphical device manager).
11. Edit your GDM confiduration file by entering the following in a Terminal window:

    sudo gedit /etc/gdm/gdm.conf-custom

    and paste the following at the end:

    [server-Standard]name=Xgl servercommand=/usr/bin/Xgl :0 -fullscreen -ac -accel xv:fbo -accel glx:pbuffer -kbflexible=true

12. Create the compiz configuration file by entering the following (don’t use SUDO here):

    gedit ~/compiz.sh

    . Paste the following in the text editor:

    #!/bin/bashLIBMESA=/opt/mesa/lib
    
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/mesa/lib /usr/bin/gnome-window-decorator &LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/mesa/lib /usr/bin/compiz --replace $1 gconf &
    
    exec gnome-session

    Then:

    chmod +x ~/compiz.sh

    to make the file execuable.

13. Now to create the application shortcut:

    sudo gedit /usr/share/xsessions/compiz.desktop

    and paste the following in the editor:

    [Desktop Entry]Encoding=UTF-8Name=CompizComment=Exec=/home/[username]/compiz.shIcon=Type=Application

    where [username] is the name of your home directory.

14. Now we will need to do some upgrading. Open Synaptic in advanced mode, then go to Settings > Repositories and click the Add button, then click the Custom button. Paste the following:

    deb http://xgl.compiz.info/ dapper main

    and click Add Channel, then Close.

15. Click the Reload button, and now search and mark for update the following packages: libgl1-mesa, libglitz1, libglitz-glx1, compiz-gnome, xserver-xgl, libsvg, libsvg-cairo. Finalize the update by clicking the Apply button.
16. Now run the gconf editor by opening a Terminal window and entering:

    gconf-editor

17. Drill into the nodes as follows: apps > compiz > general > allscreens > options.
18. Double-click on the active_plugins entry and make sure the following are entered in this specific order: gconf, decoration, transset, wobbly, state, fade, minimize, cube, scale, resize, move, minimize, place, switcher, opacity, rotate, zoom.
19. Again, close all your windows and log out.
20. At the login screen click Options > Select Session…, then choose the Compiz option and click Change Session.
21. Proceed to log in. It will ask you is you want to make this your default session (up to you, I would recommend testing it first, though).
22. Open the gconf editor again (see the steps above) and verify that the plugins are still in the list and in the specific order. If not, repeat and rinse (log out, change session, log back in, then verfiy again). I had some trouble saving these values in the list.
23. You should now be up and running. Test the new features using the following keys:

    Switch windows = Alt + Tab Arrange and View All Windows = Moving the pointer to the top right screen corner turns on or off; clicking a window will zoom it to the front Switch desktops on cube = Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right Arrow Switch desktops on cube - with active window following = Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Left/Right Arrow Rotate cube manually = Ctrl + Alt + left-click and grab an empty desktopspace. Make window translucent/opaque = possible with the "transset" utility or Alt + wheel mouse Zoom-in once = Super-key right-click Zoom-in manually = Super-key + wheel mouse up Zoom-out manually = Super-key + wheel mouse down Move window = Alt + left-click Snap Move window (will stick to borders) = Ctrl + Alt + left-click Resize window = Alt + right-click Bring up the window below the top window = Alt + middle-click Slow-motion = Shift + F10 Water = hold Ctrl+Super key Rain = Shift-F9 "Super-key" means the Linux respectively Windows key.

Special thanks for contributing to make XGL and compiz work go to:

• luo @ compiz.net forums
• wiLLie @ compiz.net forums
• pdc303 @ ubuntuforums.org

If you are still having trouble, please visit the following resources:

Ubuntu XGL Howto

Compiz @ openSuSe

Compiz Forums

The definitive thread at ubuntuforums.org

1. Open the SYnaptic package manager by selecting the “Add/Remove…” entry in the Applications menu.
2. Click the Advanced button and enter your password when prompted.
3. Click the Settings menu and choose the “Repositories” item.
4. Click the “+Add” button to add more repositories.
5. Select the “Community Maintained (Universe)” and “Non-free (Multiverse)” checkboxes, then click “+Add”. Click the close button from the “Software Preferences” window as well.
6. Click the “Reload” button to refresh your repository index.
7. Click the Search button and type “nvidia” as your search criteria; hit search.
8. Select the following packages: nvidia-glx, nvidia-settings, nvidia-config. Also make sure that the linux-restricted-modules-[xxx] and nvidia-kernel-common are either already installed or selected for installation, then click the “Apply” button.
9. Once everything is installed close Synaptic.
10. Open a terminal window.
11. Enter the following command:

    sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup

    and hit .

12. Enter the the following when the previous step is done:

    sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

    and hit . Scroll down to the section called “Module” and comment out the lines ‘Load “dri”‘ and ‘Load “GLcore”‘ by putting a ‘#’ at the front of the line. Add the line ‘Load “glx”‘.

13. Next find the section called “Device” and change the line ‘Driver “nv”‘ to ‘Driver “nvidia”‘. Also add the following line: ‘Option “RenderAccel” “true”‘.
14. Hit -O to save, then -X to exit.
15. Type

    sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/NVIDIA-Settings.desktop

    and hit enter. A blank editor screen will appear.

16. Paste the following lines:

    [Desktop Entry]Name=NVIDIA SettingsExec=nvidia-settingsIcon=Terminal=falseType=ApplicationCategories=Application;System;

    then save the file.

17. Log out and restart your computer.

NVidia drivers should now be enabled (you may see an NVidia splash screen when booting up). Please note that this guide is not intended for older graphic cards such as the MX400 as they require special instructions.

This guide is meant to assist in the installation of Ubuntu Linux for desktop use. The intended audience are users new to Linux, hopefully illustrating that Linux isn’t so hard.

The system I am installing on has the following:

• AMD Athlon64 3500+
• 200GB Harddrive
• 2GB RAM Memory
• NVidia 6800 Ultra (2 cards in SLI mode)
• 10/100 Mb Network card

Note that harddrive space and RAM don’t need to meet my specs, nor do CPU or graphic card capablities. However, please be aware that there are certain minimum requirements your computer should have. I wouldn’t recommend anything lower than the following:

• Pentium III or AMD Athlon class CPU
• 20GB Harddrive
• 512MB RAM Memory
• A rudimentary 3D-accelarated graphics card, no older then 2 or 3 years
• You must have a network card or a modem installed (with an available internet connection) to take advantage of online updates (STRONGLY recommended).

Thid portion of the guide will deal with installing the base system so that you have a Linux desktop. Following guides will deal with customizing the desktop environment and installing specific hardware.

1. Download Ubuntu (text install) from http://releases.ubuntu.com/6.06/. Note that you will want to download the 64-bit release if your CPU supports it, otherwise download the standard PC Intel version. The notes for each version should be self-explanitory.
2. Burn the downloaded image to CD with your favorite burn utility (Nero is great for this if you have a copy).
3. Reboot your computer and start up with the newly burned CD inserted. Make sure your boot options in your BIOS specify to boot from CD prior to booting from the harddrive.
4. Install Ubuntu by choosing “Install to the hard disk” option after booting up into the Linux splash screen.
5. Choose your preferred language for your desktop. This will be your default language once the system is installed. (Default is English.)
6. Choose your country.
7. The previous two choices will establish your default keyboard layout. If you wish to change this select the option “Select from full keyboard list”.
8. Next the installer will go through a series of hardware detection routines. Sit back and watch it go!
9. When done it will ask you to enter a hostname. Default is “ubuntu”, however you can change this to whatever your fancy strikes you. This entry will be the name your computer will be known as on your network.
10. Now for the difficult part: partitioning the harddrive. If you want to do a linux-only installation on your computer, this is easy (also the route I will take in this guide). This screen will list all available harddrives for you (should you have more than one in your system). Choose the appropriate one.
11. Partition the disk: You have 3 (really 4, but the fourth is complicated) options here. The first will resize the harddrive partition to use the remaining free space for your linux install (and preserve whatever you have on the drive at this time); the second will erase the entire disk for use with Linux; the third is the same as the second with the addition of adding Logical Volume Management to your install. In my opinion this is for advanced installation where there are certain requirements that may call for storage re-allocation later on. However, with the option of having GParted on your system, you can resize your partitions at will anyway. The fourth option is setting up your partitions manually. For the purpose of this tutorial, I am choosing option two: erase the entire disk.
12. Verify your settings and hit “Yes” to continue.
13. Again, sit back and watch Linux do its thing. So far the installation has been very similar to the windows installations you may have had experience with in the past. Nothing too daunting, I should think.
14. Select your time zone.
15. Enter your full name.
16. Enter your user name for your account.
17. Enter your password.
18. Enter your password again.
19. Take a breather and pat yourself on the back. You’ve made it this far, and things should be going smoothly. Linux is copying all its files over while you sit back and drink your beer. Life couldn’t be better!
20. Next up: select your video resolution(s). Restrict yourself only to resolutions your know both your video card and your monitor support. General rule of thumb: if you have an LCD screen that is 17″ or 19″ do not exceed 1280×1024. I have a 19″ LCD and will check the following resolutions: 1024×768, 1280×1024.
21. The installer will now install the remaining files needed.
22. Once prompted, remove the install CD from the drive and continue. The installer will now reboot and load Ubuntu Linux from your harddrive.
23. After it reboots, Ubuntu will load its graphical logon screen. Enter your username and password that you selected above here.
24. Your desktop will look similar to windows, but be arranged slightly different. Explore and play with various utilities and programs to get a feel for your new environment. Congratulate yourself on a Linux install well done!

That concludes this guide. I hope you had fun installing Linux and see how easy it really is!

Yahoo! has started a project on web design around the idea that ease of use is a must. While Yahoo! isn’t the first to use these technologies, they bring the concepts together in a targetted manner, almost like a workshop, complete with code examples.
I believe the project is ongoing, but it already has some substantial technologies in its repository that deal with navigation issues, drag-and-drop functionalities, menu systems, and so much more.

While all these technologies are ‘neat’, ‘fun’, and ‘cool’ to develop, and even use, I would argue that improper implimentation will actually be detrimental to the user experience. These technologies are not the one solution that will fix everything, however, with the right planning, the proper foresight, and the correct implimentation, they will take web users into the next generation of non-flash web sites.

Of course these technologies tend to behave a bit different in the different browsers, so when designing the implimentation methods and functional requirements for your site, you need to be keenly aware the specific (dis)abilities that each browser presents, so that you won’t alienate potential customers or visitors.

[Click the title to visit Yahoo!’s site.] Over the next few weeks I will begin to impliment the various technologies and will detail my experiences here.

Cheers!
Mike

While trying to google a fix for this issue I was experiencing, I came accross a post on a forum detailing the resolution to this problem. It appears that this is an issue that most likely only NVidia users will see if they have their Color Correction settings not set correctly. By default (at least for some driver versions) color correction is set to “Desktop”, while the fix for the issue is to set it to “All”, as shown in the screen print:

Last week my climate control unit in my bimmer gave out. Initially I thought it was the computer shutting the thing down because the compressor failed or something, but the engine check showed a-ok. After googling my issue for a bit, I discovered that others were experiencing this problem around the 100k mile marker. It turns out that supposedly a capacitor failure in the climate control computer (located directly beneath the radio for those of you with an E36 series BMW) is at fault for this. His very detailed and accurate instructions let me fix what would have been a $600 replacement at the dealer for $.50 at the local electronics store (in my case Fry’s Electronics) and 2 hours of work.

I picked up the capacitor, removed the one detailed in the howto guide, and replaced it with the new one. Two notes I’d like to add: polarity does matter! So when replacing the capacitor, be sure to sodder the new one in with polarity directed the same way as the old one. You will need a volt-meter to test for polarity using the resistance (ohm) settings by switching the contacts of the voltmeter around when testing the capacitor. One way will result in a connection, the other way will not.

Also, another note: I succesfully used the capacitor that was mentioned in the how-to guide (.47uF50), however, the capacitor that I removed was a (u47F63). The guide mentions that there may be many capacitors that work, and I stuck to the one in the guide, since everyone has reported success with it. So far I have not had any problems.

Thanks, Richard Swope, for you most excellent guide!

[Edit: 8/5/2005 17:23 | Original Post: 7/5/2005 10:06]
I have been experiencing intermitent climate control failures after installing the new capacitor. However, my initial thoughts were that there was a cold sodder contact point, meaning that when I soddered the capacitor, it did not make sufficient contact with the contact on the board, and it cooled without gaining proper contact, leading to an intermittent or even failing electrical connection.

I had initially installed the capacitor by soddering it from the bottom, where one would expect the contacts to be. However, after taking it out and resoddering it, it appears the contacts are on the “upper” side of the board, so when you apply sodder, do it from the top, not the bottom.
After completing this “fix” it seems to be working fine so far. I’ll keep an eye on it and report on any further issues I may find.

Have you been reading up on Windows Vista, enviously checking out the new sleek look? Well, for those of you who don’t want to wait to style up their computer, there’s a Vista theme for your Windows XP (and I think it even runs on Windows 2000) computer! You’ll need to download WindowBlinds and install this theme. The pic is a screenie of what my comp looks like with this theme running.

Well, it looks like this beta build won’t support RAID arrays yet. I tried to install it on my raid computer, and it wouldn’t read the disk information. So much for that idea. I have it installed on my other comp at the moment, but I’d like to take Longhorn through the paces of everyday use (I use my other computer as a server, and Longhorn is on an inactive removable harddrive, so it’s not getting used at this point).

What have your experiences been so far? Successes, failures?

[Edit 8/3/2005 09:11]
In the interim, here are some links about Longhorn, or ‘Vista’ as it’s now called (eventhough the boot screen still shows ‘Lonhorn’):

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista

The installation procedure of SBS2003 has not been going as smooth as I had planned. Every time I attempt to install it (must be about 5 times now) there are some issues with the Server Tools or the Server Monitoring Tools not installing correctly. No matter what I seem to do, these always fail. I’m about to give up on it, thinking that it must be my hardware.

Oh, on another note, I ordered a copy of the French localization of SBS2003. Unfortunately, I can’t use it, and if anyone want to purchase it from me, or trade it for an english version, please contact me.